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Final results of the 12th FIDE World Cup in Composing

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The FINAL results of the 12th FIDE World Cup in Composing 2025 are published and can be found above the Announcement, in the FINAL Results section.

FINAL Results in all sections, PDF | PGN for Endgame studies

A total of 279 problems and studies have been received.

During the claims stage, three problems were found to be unsound (one selfmate and two retros). In contrast, one study that was deemed to be unsound is now included in the award. One helpmate and one retro turned out to be partially anticipated. The awards have been adjusted by the judges accordingly. Also, there have been objections regarding the originality of the winner of the moremover section which the judge rejected as unjustified.

Winners:

Notes: Two awards have not been translated into English. Given the availability of tools like DeepL and Google Translate, I consider a translation unnecessary.
Some solutions in the studies section are very short. The full solutions provided by the authors can be found in the PGN-file distributed with this award.

Director of the tournament: Torsten Linß (worldcupcomposing2025@gmail.com)

Bern 25.10.2025 – World Solving Cup 2025/2026

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40th Open Swiss Solving Championship | 2nd tournament of World Solving Cup 2025/2026:
Participants: 22 | Winner: Danila Pavlov (FID), ahead of Eddy Van Beers (BEL) and Taras Rudenko (UKR).
8th Place Roland Ott (SUI – Swiss Champion)
Average rating of top ten solvers: 2421.78 | WSC category: 5
Top 5 WSC Standings: 1. Danila Pavlov (FID) 36 points (+20), 2. Eddy Van Beers (BEL) 18 points (+18), 3. Taras Rudenko (UKR) 16 points (+16), 4. Aleksandr Bulavka (FID) 14 points (unchanged), 5. Ronald Schäfer (GER) 14 points (+14).
More details published in Competitions→Solving→World Solving Cup @ Solving Portal

Photos taken by Franziska Iseli ©

Results of complete tournament – including Lithuanian participants in Vilnius, who were unable to attend in Bern due to a flight cancellation caused by weather balloons from Belarus, which led to the closure of Vilnius Airport.

Yerevan 11./12.10.2025 – World Solving Cup 2025/2026

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2nd Hamlet Amiryan memorial tournament | 1st tournament of World Solving Cup 2025/2026:
Participants: 22 | Winner: Danila Pavlov (FID), ahead of Aleksandr Bulavka (FID) and Ural Khasanov (FID).
3rd GM norm for Aleksandr Bulavka (FID) and 4th FM norm for Anton Nasyrov
Average rating of top ten solvers: 2341.71 | WSC category: 7
Top 5 WSC Standings: 1. Danila Pavlov (FID) 16 points, 2. Aleksandr Bulavka (FID) 14 points, 3. Ural Khasanov (FID) 12 points, 4. Anton Nasyrov (FID) 10 points, 5. Aleksey Popov (FID) 8 points.
More details published in Competitions→Solving→World Solving Cup & Norms @ Solving Portal

Solvers’ ratings October 1st 2025

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Solvers’ ratings as of October 1st 2025 produced by the Solving Tournament Manager are published on the WFCC Solving Portal.
4 tournaments of the 3rd quarter 2025 are included: Open Solving Tournament of WCCC 2025, 48th World Chess Solving Championship 2025, 7th Ukrainian Solving Cup 2025, Pavlos Moutecidis Memorial Solving Tournament.
Ranking of the top 10 solvers: 1. Danila Pavlov (FID) 2835.28, 2. Piotr Murdzia (POL) 2751.23 (+57.48), 3. Kacper Piorun (POL) 2746.15 (+21.14), 4. Ural Khasanov (FID) 2653.87, 5. John Nunn (GBR) 2640.20, 6. Eddy Van Beers (BEL) 2624.63 (-34.18), 7. Bojan Vučković (SRB) 2596.19, 8. Nikos Sidiropoulos (GRE) 2589.04 (+22.52), 9. Aleksey Popov (FID) 2580.50 (+20.2), 10. Martynas Limontas (LTU) 2579.90 (+28.6).
Largest 5 gains (all juniors!): female Darya Efimova (FID) +173.82, Anton Nasyrov (FID) + 156.28, Taras Rudenko (UKR) +127.35, Chinguun Sumiya (MGL) +84.72, Cristian-Daniel Oltean (ROU) +81.52.

FIDE Album 2019-2021 is available

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The new FIDE Album 2019-2021 (an official selection of the world’s best and most representative chess compositions) has been published. 832 pages, 1840 diagrams, 298 authors, 1.6 kg. Comments, indexes, registers, statistics in English.
Hard-cover blue clothbound. Price 56 euro. Orders preferably at fidealbum.com  (or by email to peter.gvozdjak@gmail.com). Sample pages available as a PDF file there.

World Solving Cup 2025/2026 – Registrations and new WSC points table

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As of the deadline on 12 August 2025, a record-breaking 21 tournaments have registered for the 2025/2026 season of the World Solving Cup, including the Open Solving of the next ECSC and WCCC.
For the tournament to count for the WSC, the tournament director must send the invitation letter by email to roland.ott@gmx.ch at least two months before the event.

At the Congress in Alba Iulia the Rules of the WSC have been changed with a new Scoring System:

1.    Elimination of the previous imbalance in the distribution of points between categories, which also leads to a reduction of points awarded in the Open Solving of the ECSC and the WCCC.

2.    Increased minimum scoring for the winner of national WSC tournaments to 10 points by reducing the number of WSC Categories from 14 to 10.

The main goal of these changes is to reinforce the original idea of the World Solving Cup, which is for participants to take part in tournaments outside their own country. This is intended to encourage top solvers in particular to participate not only in their national championships and the open Solving of the ECSC and WCCC.

WSC calendar for the season 2025/2026 |  WSC rules as of 2025 

Invitation to the 22nd  ISC

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The International Solving Contest next year will take place on Sunday 25.01.2026. The event is happening simultaneously in all participating countries.
There will be three categories: one for experienced solvers. The second category is intended for weaker, inexperienced solvers. This second category is not open for solvers with a rating (or half-rating or non-active-rating) of more than 2000. The third category is intended for youngsters born after 31.12.2012.

According to the WFCC sanctions only tournaments in category-3 are possible in Russia/Belarus. According to the decision at the WCCC in Jūrmala no cash prizes are permitted in participating countries.

Separate results are recorded for youth, females and seniors. For Categories 1 and 2 the results of solvers will be rated. However for all solvers no norms for titles are possible.

The name of the locally appointed controller must reach the central controller by email not later than 31.12.2025: arvydas.mockus@gmail.com

Announcement of 22nd ISC | Rules of ISC

Thank you for your cooperation,
Arvydas Mockus
Central controller of ISC 2026